A bare-footed drunken mum stumbled into the home of a pregnant woman and her husband before helping herself to a bottle of water and driving home in their car.
Linda Hill had discharged herself from Whiston Hospital while heavily intoxicated. The mum-of-three, who had no recollection of her ambulance trip, left the hospital without shoes or a coat and said she "just wanted to get home" to Widnes.
The 47-year-old told later police in interview that “she got lost, knocked on doors but no-one answered. She tried door handles and when she tried one in Lyneham, Whiston, the door was open.
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“She went in to get warm and went into the kitchen as she was thirsty and took a bottle of water out of the fridge. The front door was the same way she left and she saw a set of keys out of the corner of her eye inside the car on the driveway and drove the car home.”
Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, at Liverpool Crown Court today, said Hill’s brother realised she had “come back home in a car which did not belong to her.” She was still intoxicated and was re-admitted to hospital. The police were notified and she was arrested.
The court heard the owner of the car was traced, who told police he got up at 4.50am on August 22 last year and noticed that the front door was open. When he looked out onto the driveway he saw his Ford Focus was missing.
The victim said access to his home had been gained through the bathroom window, however Mr Blasbery said the Crown accepted Hill’s basis of plea that the door had been unlocked. The victim said he had been left £1,721 out of pocket including the loss of his wallet containing £700 from the car. His wife had been eight weeks pregnant at the time and the break-in had had an adverse emotional affect on the couple.
He wrote in a victim impact statement: "She had never had any issues with staying home alone but she does now...It is a horrible feeling knowing that a stranger has entered your home and while inside taken items."
Hill, of Ingham Road, Widnes, later pleaded guilty to burglary and taking a car without consent, and was also dealt with in a lower court for drink driving. Mr Blasbery said Hill told police during her interview she was alcoholic for 18 months and drank due to stress and not sleeping. On the day of the offence she had drunk two or three bottles of wine and wound up in Victoria Park and then remembered waking up in Whiston Hospital. She did not recall how she got there and discharged herself.
Simon Christie, defending, said the burglary charge did not include taking anything of value except for the car key. She had pleaded guilty at the magistrates court to driving with excess alcohol and had been given a community order.
Judge Anil Murray sentenced her to nine months imprisonment suspended for two years. He said: "You have had a shocking impact on the people who lived in the house. They said your behaviour affected them seriously.”
He said that the wife was now refuses to be alone in case someone breaks in. “Some people never recover from the affects of house burglary,” he added.
The judge ordered her to pay £1,721 compensation in the next six months and to carry out 100 hours unpaid work. He said that she has been managing to control her drinking problem and has a good job. She represents a low risk of re-offending and is making good progress under the community order.
